Wastewater Management Through Aquaculture

Editors:
Jana, B. B, Mandal, R. N., Jayasankar, Dr. Pallipuram (Eds.)

Defines aquaculture practices in the waste stabilization pond systemPresents the ways of reclamation of wastewater through aquacultureExplains ecosystem dynamics though effective management of wastewater

This volume provides state-of-the-art information on soil-water interactions in wastewater systems, characterization of wastewater, modes of treatment, safety of wastewater use, water conservation technologies involved in recycling of sewage in fish culture, biogeochemical cycling bacteria and nutrient dynamics, ecosystem resilient driven wastewater reclamation, bioremediation, aquaponics, ecological integrity, culture practices of fish farming, microbial food web phenomena, fish diseases, environmental economics of wastewater, environmental risk assessment, environmental law and regulations. Given its breadth of coverage, the book will be useful to researchers, teachers, students, administrators, planners, farmers and entrepreneurs interested in the profitable use of wastewater in the wastes-into-wealth framework of for the benefit of humanity, and in achieving the targets for sanitation and safe wastewater reuse by 2030, specified in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Concerns are growing about the quality and quantity of fresh water, as severe crises are expected in the near future. Climate change has further worsened the strain on inland water resources, with its major impacts on ecosystems and human life. It is most urgent to protect and conserve inland water resources to maintain vital ecosystem functions. Despite the immense nutrient potentials of wastewater in terms of phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium and increasingly high rates of urbanization-based wastewater generation, wastewater has traditionally been overlooked as a resource. This produces a threefold loss – environmental degradation, monetary losses from fertilizers, and water. As a result, municipal wastewater offers a win-win strategy for water conservation and environmental protection, while also turning waste into wealth in the form of fish biomass and allied cash crops. Wastewater-fed aquaculture refers to a unique, integrated biosystem in which the wastes generated by the first system are used by the next subsystem. In wastewater-fed aquaculture biosystems, the organic wastes are recycled into fish biomass mediated through a complex microbial/autotrophic/heterotrophic food web mechanism.

Professor (Dr) B. B. Jana, a Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi as well as some other prestigious Academies in India and recipient of the Joy Govinda Memorial Award of the Asiatic Society, is Emeritus Fellow and Academic Advisor in the International Centre for Ecological Engineering, University of Kalyani, West Bengal India. He did his doctorate on aquatic ecology and microbiology and worked as Post Doctoral Fellow of the then USSR and DAAD Visiting Fellow in the University of Hamburg, Germany. He has published several monographs, books and contributed chapters in UNESCO-Encyclopedia and has published over 235 papers in peer reviewed journals and supervised 32 Ph. D students. As a Principal Investigator, he is the recipient of many national and international projects funded by European Commission, GTZ and TTZ, ICAR, UGC, CSIR, DST, DBT, DOEn and Govt. of India, etc. His domain of research includes wastewater aquaculture, ecological sanitation, eco-restoration, ecological engineering, microbial nutrient cycling, integrated organic farming, impact of global warming and climate change in aquaculture, water conservation, etc. A Board Member of the International Ecological Engineering Society, Switzerland and editorial board member of several important journals, Professor Jana has extensively travelled abroad and chaired and/or participated and invited speakers in many International conferences held in many countries of the world. At present, his passion is eco-sanitation particularly for the use of human urine as alternative chemical fertilizer. One of his papers published in Ecological Engineering has been highlighted in the News@Nature.com . His another current publications on human urine has also been highlighted and covered in IndoUS Business Journal Aug 28, 2016 which reads as: Now human urine as an organic alternative to chemical fertilizers. As a secretary, his mission has been focused on outreach programme and extension activities at the grass root level which are being implemented through his own founded NGO, KALYANI SHINE INDIA known as Centre for Environmental Protection & Human Resource Development aimed at alleviating rural poverty and protection and conservation of biodiversity, environment and water resources.

Dr. R. N. Mandal did his M. Sc. and Ph. D. in Botany from University of Calcutta. Presently, Dr. Mandal has been in the position of Principal Scientist in Aquaculture Production and Environemt Division (APED), Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Rahara, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Dr. Mandal is now working on wastewater fed aquaculture as the Principal Investigator in sewage fed aquaculture farm in Rahara and deals with different aspects of sewage fed aquaculture in farmers’ field in East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW). He has been working on the management of both aquatic and wetlands plants, including utility of beneficial flora and removal of nuisance ones, in the perspective of aquaculture. He has also guided students for their Masters dissertation. He has published a number of articles in referred scientific journals of high repute.

Dr. P. Jayasankar, M. Sc. and Ph. D., has spent 31 years as a researcher in fisheries, including fishery biology & fish stock assessment, phenotypic/genotypic stock structure analysis, evaluation of genetic heterogeneity and molecular taxonomy/DNA barcoding (fish, shellfish and cetaceans), genetic linkage mapping & QTL, genomic selection, molecular marker based fish hybrid identification and transgenics. Recently, Dr. Jayasankar has taken up research on environmental DNA (eDNA). He has published over 150 peer reviewed papers, book, books edited and book chapters. He has also guided 8 students for their Masters and Ph D dissertation. As a research and administration manager (ex-Director, ICAR-CIFA, Bhubaneswar, India), he contributed towards extension of freshwater aquaculture technology and established linkages among researchers and the industry.